Max Steel: New Team
by UKHoneyB
Summary: *Complete* When competing in a sports tounament, Team Steel face up against a new team. After being beaten, they ask questions about who they were...
1. Mission England

            Disclaimers: Any of the characters you recognize from Max Steel, are copyrighted by whoever made them, possibly Foundation Imaging, 20th Century Fox, and whoever else it might be. All other characters are copyright their own creators/authors.

            A/N: This story takes place after the third series. If you don't know what happened, but the tapes and WATCH THEM! Call yourself a Max Steel fan?! Plus, don't criticize me for the team name, I picked it at random. Also, this has links to a spy-type book I'm writing.

            I've changed the format, which means: five reviews per chapter, or no more! So, you like it? Then review!

Chapter 1:

            "Now we're in the final stage, and it looks like Team Steel has a real fight on their hands to keep their title." the commentators mentioned. Josh, Kat and Berto all looked up at the scoreboard. The last event left was the women's super-cross finals, and they all knew Kat wasn't going to back down without a fight, but neither were Team Bendal. Team Steel needed to win this, and Team Bendal had to come in at third, or worse, for Kat to win. The oldest of the team was only about 18 or 19, and the youngest, Hanna, who was 16, was the one competing in this round.

            Kat was doing some last-minute adjustments, to her bike, when Hanna came along. "Good luck," she said. "You'll need it." She walked off, and Kat ignored her. _She'll be laughing on the other side of her face, Kat thought,__ once she sees how unbeatable we are as a team. Mind you, Kat was getting bored of all this. It'd been, what, five, six months since N-Tek was shut down, and she was beginning to miss all the action. Josh and Berto were watching at a distance, when Josh noticed something unusual. He nudged Berto._

            "Hey, does she look familiar to you?" He asked, pointing at Hanna.

            "Well, she does look a lot like Kat..."

            "Apart from that. I think I recognize her from somewhere." Josh tried to remember where, but he couldn't.

            "Racers, take your positions, please!" The four competitors lined up at the start, and Hanna quickly signed something at Kat. She didn't have time to work it out, because the race was about to start.

            "Five...four...three...two...one!" A gunshot went off, and it had started. Kat got an early lead, leaving the others in the dust, or so she thought. She was on the last lap, heading for the finish line, when a green blur passed her. Kat speeded up, determined to win, when she saw who it was. Hanna. She turned round, grinned, and won. Kat came in second, but it was no use. Team Bendal had won.

            "Victory!" Ian yelled, the oldest of the team, at 19. He had blonde hair, and blue eyes. "We won! And we beat Team Steel!" He and Scott exchanged high-fives, while Hanna glared at them. She did look a bit like Kat, brown hair, green eyes. They had a van, like Team Steel, but better equipped.

            "Remember our orders. We're hear on a mission, not to joke around." She smiled. "Although beating Team Steel was funny, especially the look on Kat's face!"

            "Yeah, well, we have been trained by the best." Scott said. He had brown hair and grey eyes. Both Hanna and Ian agreed. "Mind you, I'm surprised they let you come. You still haven't finished training for this."

            "Maybe because you two are complete idiots, and I'm the only one who can control you. That, and the fact I can hack into any computer network or database. Just to know who we're up against."

            "Have you managed to pull their files yet?" Hanna just gave him a look. "Ok, ok, just asking, that's all. Jeez!"

            "I've got them here," she replied, turning on the computer. "Profiles on Josh McGrath, Kat Ryan, and Dr. Berto Martinez. Also one on Max Steel. I did notice something interesting about Josh and Max. Look." Putting the two images side by side, and then super-imposing them on each other, they all saw.

            "Possibility of a random match?" Ian asked, suspicious.

            "About 10 billion to one. Facial structure and retinal scans show a near-perfect match."

            " 'Near perfect'? What do you mean."

            "I mean that something happened to his eyes. There are some differences, but minor ones."

            "How could this happen?" Scott looked closer.

            "Not sure, but we'll find out sooner or later, and I'm betting sooner."

            "How was that even possible?!" Kat yelled. "She won. How?"

            "Simple. She had a larger engine than you. One of the new prototypes N-Tek's been working on. I don't know how she got hold of it." Berto replied, struggling with the computer.

            "Any luck, bro?"

            "Sorry hermano, nothing. they do exist, but I can't find any profiles at all."

            "So, tell us what you know."

            "All I know is that they were sponsored by someone who sent them over here."

            " 'Sent them over here'?"

            "They're from England. Apparently the best of the best, at least at school. Nearly every subject taken by them was graded at either A or A*, for GCSE."

            "Huh?" Both Kat and Josh said at the same time.

            "Exams. This is unclear, but it seems like they have links with Rachel."

            "Our Rachel? Rachel from N-Tek?" Kat asked.

            "Probably. All I can see is that the three of them have met Rachel, at some point since she left."

            "How come she looks so familiar, then?" Josh wondered, his mind on other things.

            "Very easily. As a junior, she took part in major competitions all over the world, some even here in Del Oro. Now she's moved up to the big league."

            "And no one recognizes her." Kat finished off, looking at Josh. He'd started acting the same way when he'd heard that Rachel was coming back to Del Oro, for a while, anyway. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on you're point of view, Rachel had managed to avoid Josh all the time she had been back.

            "You think this'll involve Jeff?" Kat asked. Berto shook his head.

            "We'd better keep this low-key, at least until we find out more."

            "If we can."

            A few days later, Team Steel arrived at N-Tek to talk to Jeff. They arrived in his office, all nervous, especially Kat for some reason.

            "So, what is so important that I need to know now?" Jeff was in the middle of trying to get N-Tek up and running as an anti-terrorist agency when he'd been interrupted.

          "Four things: Hanna Bendal, Ian Watson, Scott Castledine, and something called UKI." Josh replied. "Sound familiar? It should do. Rachel's been working with them for about six months."

            "I recognize UKI, but I don't know the other three. Who are they?"

            "Apparently, agents of UKI. What are they doing here, anyway. There's no mission that I know of. Is there?" Josh asked, looking around. Kat shrugged.

            "You should meet them soon, anyway. They've been transferred here from UKI, to learn how N-Tek works, and maybe to teach you three a lesson as well about how not to complicate a mission!" Jeff replied, smiling. "I called them in earlier, and they should be training." Kat was the only one interested in this_. Maybe I'll be able to find out what makes Hanna so special, she thought, walking down to the training room. Josh and Berto had gone back to the CommandVan, most probably to order pizza. They'll both start looking like one if they keep this up, Kat thought, with a small smile. She entered her code, and stepped into the training room. Ian and Scott were sparing, and from the fact that Hanna was nowhere to be seen indicated she was in the Danger Room. They were all in normal clothes, not any kind of uniform. Kat opened the door, and stepped into the control room. Hanna had activated what could have been one of the hardest sims, and was actually doing very well. Kat stood there and watched, impressed. If this is the kind of agent England can produce, no wonder Smith asked them to come. After finishing the sim, Hanna heard someone clapping. Looking up, she saw Kat there, smiling. they both walked out, and Hanna picked up a sparring stick._

            "Let's see how good you are in combat," Hanna challenged Kat. Kat picked up the other stick, and they began. After about ten minutes, Kat had landed on the mat four times, not to mention ending up with numerous cuts and bruises. Hanna, on the other hand, hadn't even been touched.

            "Don't worry. We're the best. A lot of our agents aren't even half as good as you lot." They both looked round as they heard the door open, and Josh walked in. Noticing the state Kat was in, he tried to hide a smile.

            "Who was coaching who here?" He asked. Apart from himself, Kat was the best fighter in N-Tek.

            "You try fighting her, then. Even with your Nano-Tek powers, I bet you couldn't beat her."

            "I'll take you up on that bet!" Josh replied. Looking over at Hanna, he remarked, "I'm surprised that you're not even tired yet. You're almost super-human." They heard a loud thump on the ground, and looked round. Scott had just thrown Ian to the floor, to win the round.

            "How many rounds is that? Seven, eight?" Kat asked.

            "Two. We're doing the best out of five." Ian said, standing up. "At the moment it's one-all."

            "How long have they been here?" Josh whispered to Hanna.

            "Not sure. Half an hour, 45 minutes, I haven't been keeping count." 

            "They're going to be here all night at this rate. Is there anything we can do to stop them?" Kat asked.

            "Beats me. If there is something, then I've never figured it out." Hanna paused, then went over to the shooting range. "I'm gonna practise. Anyone want to join me?"

            "No way! Before I know it, you'll probably have shot a hole in me!"

            "Hey! I'm not that bad! Besides, I only fire at enemies, not partners or friends."

            "Agents Steel, Ryan, Bendal, Watson and Castledine report to the prep room immediately." Came the voice over the tannoy system.

            "Finally! Some action!" Hanna remarked, as she followed the others out.


	2. Meet the team

            Disclaimers: Any of the characters you recognize from Max Steel, are copyrighted by whoever made them, possibly Foundation Imaging, 20th Century Fox, and whoever else it might be. All other characters are copyright their own creators/authors. (mainly me!)

            A/N: This story takes place after the third series. If you don't know what happened, but the tapes and WATCH THEM! Call yourself a Max Steel fan?! Plus, don't criticize me for the team name, I picked it at random. Also, this has links to a spy-type book I'm writing.

Here's one for you, SarQueeen4 ;-). I need 3 more review to carry on with this, k?

Chapter 2:

            "So, who is it this time? Psycho, L'Etranger, someone new?" Josh asked, once they were in the prep room. Berto was already there, waiting. To the UKI agents, it was completely different to what they were used to. They were usually given instructions over the comm, and were sent out on the missions. Of course, with N-Tek, it was all reversed. They all got the information at the same time, and discussed their strategy before they'd even left the base.

            "It's Psycho. Intelligence has spotted him dangerously close to a top secret weapons factory in the UK, on the outskirts of London." Jeff replied.

            "Fine. Next question: how can we be going on this mission if we've been shut down?" Kat countered. "I doubt even the Pentagon would trust us anywhere near something like this."

            "It's simple: you've got clearance from WI, and their influence goes far beyond that of any other anti-terrorist organisation, even the Pentagon. WI doesn't get its orders from the Pentagon; the Pentagon gets its orders from WI." Ian replied.

            "WI?" Josh, Berto and Kat all asked in unison. Hanna stood up and activated the viewing screen. An image of the world came up, spinning and pausing every so often, giving details of various organisations.

            "WI: World Intelligence. It's the main headquarters of every anti terrorist organisation in the world." She smiled. "Even N-Tek now. You might have the UN chartering you, but we have the utmost clearance in the world, and are allowed to do anything, as long as people's safety isn't compromised." The image changed. "The weapons factory Psycho has been targeting produces various weapons for use by WI, as well as for various defence purposes."

            "What kind of weapons?" Berto asked. Scott answered him.

            "Mainly high-tech weaponry. Stun guns, KO gas, that sort of weapons. Most are still in the prototype stages, but if Psycho can get enough information..." he trailed off. Everyone got the idea.

            "We leave for England in two hours. Pack only necessary items." Hanna finished off. The three UKI agents walked off.

            "And I thought _Rachel was a textbook agent!" Josh whispered to Kat. She put her hand over her mouth to stop herself laughing. "Mind you, I wonder how quickly we'll be able to foil his plans, yet again."_

            "I bet, half an hour to find the base, an hour to battle, fifteen minutes to tie up any loose ends. One hour, 45 minutes." Kat replied, as they walked into the hanger. There was the usual, Hawk, Behemoth, Hydro-Jet, Shark, Storm...

            "Where did _this come from? I don't remember seeing it anywhere before." Josh wondered._

            "Unless you've been to UKI's base, you wouldn't have." Said a voice. Josh and Kat both spun round, trying to pin-point the source. "You'll never find me, no matter how hard you look. Not even with infa-red vision." Kat recognized the voice.

            "Hanna? This may seem stupid, but how?" Both of them heard Hanna laugh, and appear.

            "UKI technology. Holo-fields. Even with the most sophisticated equipment, no one can find us. It works on the same principle as Stealth, only a lot more effective."

            "How does it work?" Josh asked.

            "Do you need to know how a car works to drive it? You don't, but it does come in handy in fixing it. Ask one of the people at UKI. I asked once." She swept her arm over her head, indicating that even she didn't understand it. 

            "So, Storm?" Hanna grinned.

            "Another prototype, yet again. Very streamlined, agile and fast. Can outrun almost anything in the sky, flying at about Mach 5, top speed." (Mach is the rate at which speed is measured. To compare it, the speed of sound in the air is Mach 1.) "You two ready yet?" Hanna asked.

            "Nearly. Just running a few tests on Storm, making sure it's ready." Ian replied inside her head.

            "Umm...?"

            "Micro-comm. Every WI agent has them implanted when they begin."

            " 'Implanted'?" Josh asked, looking at Kat.

            "Just under the skin. It doesn't hurt, just gets annoying when you're trying to concentrate." She pointed her thumb at Storm. "Scott just *had* to call me when I was on a test-flight of that. I nearly ended up crashing into the ocean." She headed towards Storm. "Come on, or we'll never get there in time!" They walked up the ramp, but before they stepped in, Hanna turned around. "Don't touch a thing here. We loose this, and we're in serious trouble. It wasn't even supposed to leave the base yet." Hanna looked around. "Where's Berto?"

            "He's coming. He wouldn't miss this. For him, it's a chance of a lifetime." Kat replied. Hanna stared.

            "He doesn't get out much, does he?"

            "Nope. You'll be lucky if he ever moves from the console for anything other than new technology." Once Berto had arrived, they took off. Each person had been assigned their own quarters, and there was a decent training room in Storm as well. Josh had gone off to play Judo Enforcer 3000, Kat had...disappeared and Berto was in the bridge, trying to find out how Storm worked. He got the idea he wasn't meant to do anything after Hanna had hit him for the third time.

            "Hey! What was that for?!" He asked. Without looking, Hanna answered.

            "That button sends out a self-destruct beacon to every WI craft within a 15 mile/10 kilometre radius, including this one. So, if you don't want to take a dip in the middle of the Atlantic, HANDS OFF!" Fortunately, Berto got the message after that, and they could carry on as normal. Flying low to avoid radar, they arrived in London. In Heathrow Airport. Still having the holo-field activated, Scott manuvered Storm into one of the hangers at the far end.

            "Think they'll find it here?" Scott asked Ian.

            "Given the unusual places you've parked it before, and they've *still* managed to find it, they probably will." Walking out into the main car park, they recovered the two cars left there for them by UKI.

            "I'm going to flip a coin this time. They're both as bad as each other." Hanna muttered.

            "What do you mean by that?" Berto asked. Hanna pointed at Ian.

            "He thinks he has to always drive over the limit, and he," pointing at Scott, "totally ignores any kind of road signs. I'm surprised his car hasn't been written off completely yet." She paused for a moment. "Forget flipping a coin, I'm going to get a lift back." Activating a button on her watch, a small passenger plane appeared. She got in, and flew off, leaving Team Steel to deal with their fate.

            "Hey, watch it, or we'll _all end up being driven to the base!" Josh yelled, after a car had passed them, horn blaring. He and Kat were with Scott, and Berto had gone with Ian._

            "What do you mean by that?" Scott asked, laughing.

            "I mean we'll get there in an ambulance!"

            "Don't worry; we'll be there soon enough." Scott yelled back, swerving to avoid yet another car, a motorcyclist, _and a motorway sign._

            "Preferably in one piece. I don't fancy being faxed back to N-Tek." Kat replied. To Josh she whispered, "we should have gone with Ian. We would have got their faster as well as safer!" Josh grinned. He didn't admit it, but he was enjoying the ride.

            After (eventually) reaching the base, the Millennium Dome in the centre of London, Josh, Kat and Berto were escorted right into the heart of WI. Throughout the tour, Ian kept up a running commentary.

            "That's a smoke bomb, primitive but.....you don't want to touch that, it's a matter transporter.....do you _really want to set that off here?.....don't start touching that, or we'll lose half our agents....." Hanna sighed and shook her head. It was worse than having new agents brought in. At least __they knew why they were here, unlike Team Steel. After the tour of the outer ring had finished, they were (grudgingly by Hanna) let into the heart of UKI._

            "What _is half of this stuff for?!" Berto asked in amazement, looking around. There was everything and anything there that could be thought of as useful: satellite scans, radar, infa-red, x-ray scans, geographical images of various places, all with lights on indicating agents, allies, terrorists, any type of architecture, even down to trees, and also visual and audio links with all agents._

            "We'll _never get him out of here now! I bet 50 bucks as soon as we get back, he asks for a transfer to here." Kat told Josh, but amazed herself. She thought N-Tek was up-to-date with technology, but obviously not when compared to here. Almost every possible space had been filled up with monitors, but what took up the most space was a screen, with a rotating image similar to the one Hanna had shown, but this one showed individual information about all the agents. As they watched, three blue lights started flashing rapidly, then blinked out in London. Information appeared about those agents; name, DOB, age, country of residence, personal experience, even weaknesses. As quickly as it appeared, the information disappeared._

            "This is just the main part of the building. There's about six floors above, well hidden, and two basement levels, mainly for equipment. There's no point in hanging around in here all day, you'll never understand it. Only she does." Scott informed them, indicating at Hanna. "The most versatile type of agent, they're always saying. I bet she could run this place single-handedly, if she wanted. We'd better leave her here, and I'll introduce you to our field commander." Taking the lift up one level, Josh could hear a very familiar voice, but couldn't place it immediately. The lift stopped, and Ian guided them through the maze of corridors, and into an office. When she turned around, all of Team Steel recognized her at once.

            "Hi, Josh," she said.

            "Hey, Rachel," Josh replied.__


	3. Face off

            Disclaimers: Any of the characters you recognize from Max Steel, are copyrighted by whoever made them, possibly Foundation Imaging, 20th Century Fox, and whoever else it might be. All other characters are copyright their own creators/authors. (mainly me!)

            A/N: This story takes place after the third series. If you don't know what happened, but the tapes and WATCH THEM! Call yourself a Max Steel fan?! Plus, don't criticize me for the team name, I picked it at random. Also, this has links to a spy-type book I'm writing.

            Oh, forget it.

Chapter 3:

            She looked almost exactly the same. Same eyes, same voice, same personality. Only her hair had changed. Rachel had got rid of her fringe, and grown her hair out, almost touching her shoulders, but still the same blonde colour. After briefly noticing Josh, she busied herself with talking to Ian, running over their plans: how to get there, possible entrances, even down to the attack. _They don't do anything half-way here,_ Josh thought_. I thought it was just Rachel who had to be this organized. Kat didn't seem all that interested. Unlike Josh, she didn't have a person she loved working here, ignoring her, and she wasn't all that interested with staring at monitors all day like Berto. She folded her arms, then started tapping her foot a couple of minutes later. When they didn't notice, she caught their attention._

            "Tick-tock, tick-tock. While we stand here planning for every possible move, Psycho has had a huge chance to grab everything in the weapons factory." Rachel got the hint, and they set off towards the factory. So as not to arouse suspicion, they left in pairs or in a three: Josh, Kat and Ian, Rachel and Scott and Berto and Hanna. Ian was listening to every single story about N-Tek either Kat or Josh could remember or think of in the car, distracting him to no end, especially when they explained some of the battles blow-by-blow (sometimes literally), that it was a wonder how they got to their destination at all (Ian had taken about seven wrong turns, missed five, and somehow ended up going the _wrong way down a one-way street). Rachel and Scott had taken the small passenger plane and were discussing tactics while on auto-pilot. Hanna and Berto, well, they were arriving on an underground train, much like the Migrail Tunnel, and were talking about....well, nothing. Since the train didn't need steering, they just sat there, waiting._

            "So, have you been an agent long?" Berto asked, in an attempt to start a conversation.

            "Huh? Oh, no, not long. A few months at the most." Hanna replied. "What about you?"

            "About a year, year and a half." He noticed how nervous she was, and how she kept on looking around at every single noise. "Haven't you been on a mission yet?" He asked, confused. She shook her head, embarrassed.

            "I haven't even finished my training yet. I'm meant to be training for at least three more months before my first mission," she grinned, "but Rachel insisted on me being on this mission for some reason."

            "This might sound stupid but, if you ever left UKI, what would you want to do?"

            "Have you got two hours to spare?" She replied, laughing. "Let me see: I could be an astrophysicist, an astronaut, a politician, a vet, a games programmer, maybe even work in cybernetics, the list goes on." At the word 'cybernetics', Berto was instantly more interested, but before he had time to ask any questions, they arrived at the station. Reaching ground level, Hanna scanned the area with her watch to see if anyone else had arrived yet. "Was this wise?" She muttered to herself.

            "What?" Berto had heard her. She stopped scanning.

            "You do realize that if no one else arrives, we'll have to face Psycho on our own, which will _not be any fun at all." Fortunately, for both of them, Scott and Rachel arrived five minutes later, with Kat, Josh and Ian not far behind. Setting out a portable holo-field, Rachel started outlining where everyone would be at a given time: Kat and Josh, as Max, would be the first inside and, if all was clear, signal Rachel, Ian and Scott in. They would spread out, searching for Psycho. Hanna and Berto would be waiting outside, in case Psycho escaped. All five of them went in, and started looking, while Berto watched the action on a laptop. Hanna was patrolling the roof of the factory, getting ready to attack if necessary. She caught snippets of what Berto kept on telling Max._

            "Left, there's a conveyor belt there where you can hide for a while.....he's aiming his laser, get everyone out of range..." etc, etc. Half an hour had passed, and Hanna was getting restless. She doubled back, and heard Berto yell. She jumped down from the roof (not easy, considering she was on the third floor) and ran towards him.

            "Shit! Psycho knocked Max out with an EMP!" Hanna looked down at the screen, and decided.

            "Go! I'll follow in a while." Berto hesitated, but ran into the factory. Hanna knew a bit about the max probes, but not enough. After ten minutes trying everything possible that she could think of, she gave up, and followed Berto into the factory. Looking around, she didn't see anything except the wreckage of battle. Every room was the same; broken cases, weapons, everything. Spotting a flash of metal, she ran towards that room, finding Psycho, Rachel, Ian and everyone else. Berto had attempted to drag Max away from the EMP's range and, failing, was trying to destroy it. Everyone else was trying to keep Psycho busy. Psycho hadn't noticed Hanna yet, and she took a chance. Creeping round, she managed to get in Psycho's blind spot, and kicked him. It had the desired effect: his attention was switched from all the other agents to her. The downside? He spun round and, before she knew it, he'd shot her, leaving a huge piece of her left arm missing, just below her shoulder. She dropped down onto her knees, holding her hand over the wound, trying to stop it bleeding so much. The laser had cauterised some of the blood vessels, but there were enough still open to do some serious damage if nothing was done.

            After the unexpected attack on Hanna, everyone seemed to attack Psycho recklessly. Ian avoided being shot, while Kat was thrown across the room after her attack failed. Sensing that he didn't have much time left, Psycho pulled out a small bomb, threw it, and left. A foul smell emerged, and everyone covered their mouths and nose, trying not to breathe it. The EMP device had been switched off, and Max woke up. Rachel gestured for everyone to move, and they did. Putting her left hand over her nose, Hanna tried to stand up, and collapsed. Max was directing everyone out, being unaffected, and saw her. Running over, he picked her up in his arms, and carried her out. Everyone emerged, coughing and gasping for breath, some cursing themselves for letting Psycho escape. Rachel called Storm, and everyone got in. Max put Hanna in the hospital part of the plane, and waited with her, turning back to Josh. Luckily, she hadn't lost too much blood, and her arm had been bandaged up and the vessels closed. All through the flight, Josh sat there next to her. _She's too young to do this,_ he thought. _I was nineteen when I started, and I felt overwhelmed by the responsibility I had to try and save the world. She's too young, Rachel should have... _the door opened, and Josh turned round to look. Rachel walked in.

            "How is she?" She asked, sitting next to Josh.

            "According to Berto, she'll be fine, once her arm heals up." Josh looked at Rachel. There were tears in her eyes, and she was looking down at the floor. "Rach..." he said, putting both his arms around her.

            "It's my fault!" She yelled, crying, laying against his chest. "This is all my fault!" Rachel looked up. "Do you want to know why I left, Josh? Why I...walked out on you?" Josh said nothing, just brushing the tears from her cheeks. "I couldn't face it. I couldn't  face doing the job, knowing I'd be sending colleagues, friends even..." she faultered, "even people I cared about, into danger."

            "Hey, didn't you ever hear? My middle name's Danger." Josh said, attempting a joke. Rachel smiled faintly.

            "Really? I always thought your middle name was Going Turbo." She grew serious again. "After I got the promotion, I kept on thinking 'what will happen to them? Will they get injured, or worse?' I did what a coward would have done: I ran away. I ran back home. I thought it would be better here, at UKI, because people can refuse missions, if they want, especially if they're half-way around the world. I didn't feel as guilty, because I knew it was their choice in the end. But this..." she looked at Hanna, "I'm going back to being a field agent." They both fell silent until they reached UKI, and after being debriefed, left.

            It was a few days before Hanna was able to move around, but apparently she'd been giving the nurses hell. They were glad to get rid of her, and Hanna didn't care what they said: she was going shopping.

            "I promised I'd meet a friend there," she said, after a lot of arguing. "What am I going to say to her?'Sorry I couldn't come, but I had a run-in with a terrorist, ended up having a chunk sliced out of me, and had to be in hospital for a few days, and they wouldn't let me out'?" After a lot more arguing and persuading, they agreed to let Hanna go, but only if Rachel and Josh accompanied her. After tailing her and her friend, Denise, for fifteen minutes, and loosing them five or six times, they gave up, and walked over to them both.

            "Hi, Josh. Hey Rachel," she said, glaring at them, but making sure Denise didn't see. "Denise, this is my boss, Rachel, and my cousin from America, Josh. Don't ask," she said when Denise opened her mouth. "I only found out a few days ago." The rest of the day passed, mainly with Denise asking Josh anything and everything about America she could think of. Hanna and Rachel walked behind them, not talking. Despite her numerous attempts to tell Rachel it wasn't her fault, Rachel was still blaming herself. Josh, Hanna and Rachel were waiting outside HMV for Denise, when Rachel put a hand on her forehead, and leaned against the wall.

            "You OK, Rach?" Josh asked.

            "Yeah, I'm fine, just felt a bit dizzy for a while." Rachel replied, pushing herself from the wall. Hanna kept back, and Josh looked at her. _She knows something we don't,_ he thought, _but what?_ Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rachel fall. Josh caught her moments before her head hit the ground. Hanna took out a pocket scanner, and checked her pulse, breathing and temperature. Whatever was on the screen scared her. Hanna saved the data, and looked at Josh.

            "We've got to get her back to N-Tek, ASAP." Josh nodded, and picked Rachel up. Throwing a holo-field around all three of them, everyone else saw Rachel get back up, refuse people who wanted to phone for an ambulance, insisting that she was fine, and walk off when Denise came back. After they'd got back to N-Tek, Josh confronted Hanna in the hospital wing.

            "What is it?" He asked, blocking her way. "It was something in that canister, wasn't it?" Hanna nodded.

            "It's not necessarily dangerous, but..."

            "But what?" Josh yelled. She told him everything.

            "It's a virus," she ended," but it can be treated. The only problem is, we don't know if it'll work. It's not been tested yet. You won't be affected, but everyone else will. Including me. I haven't seen any of the others yet, so I don't know if they're showing symptoms. After two days, they'll be fine, those who haven't shown any symptoms. The incubation period is between two and seven days." She looked at Josh. "I'm sorry, but all we can do is wait, and hope." Hanna walked out of the room. *She knows,* Josh thought, *Hanna knows about me and Rachel. It must have been hard for her to keep it a secret, especially when she had a new agent as promising as I was.* Rachel started to stir. Josh sat down and held her hand. She woke up, and looked around, panicking, but relaxed when she saw Josh. She tried to sit up, but Josh put his other hand on her shoulder, and gently pushed her back down on the bed.

            "You need to rest," he told her, as a way of explanation. "You'll be fine, soon enough." _I hope, he added silently. She closed her eyes, and Josh leant over to kiss her on her forehead._

            Seven days after the attack, and no one else had fallen ill. Ian, Scott and Kat had all become ill before Rachel, and were showing some signs of improvement. Rachel, on the other hand, wasn't getting any better, but she wasn't getting any worse, either.

            "Hey, Josh, is Hanna there with you?" Berto asked, after turning the console on. "She left her quarters fifteen minutes ago, but no one's seen her."

            "I'll have a look," Josh replied, letting go of Rachel's hand. Looking up at some of the cameras on the walls, he could see why they hadn't spotted Hanna. Most of them weren't working. He turned the corner, and found her.

            "Hanna!" Josh yelled, and ran over to her. She was sitting on the floor, her back to the wall, and was shivering. A line of sweat was drawn on her forehead, and she was pale. Very pale. She was seriously ill.

A/N: Sorry if I seem to be focusing on Hanna too much. She's the main character of my spy fic, and I'm used to writing from her perspective. Please review, and more than just one or two sentences (you know who you are!): I want to know if/how it can be improved.


	4. Sibling rivalry

            Disclaimers: Any of the characters you recognize from Max Steel, are copyrighted by whoever made them, possibly Foundation Imaging, 20th Century Fox, and whoever else it might be. All other characters are copyright their own creators/authors. (mainly me!)

            A/N: This story takes place after the third series. If you don't know what happened, but the tapes and WATCH THEM! Call yourself a Max Steel fan?! Plus, don't criticize me for the team name, I picked it at random. Also, this has links to a spy-type book I'm writing. 

Chapter 4:

            "Hanna! Hanna, can you hear me?" Josh asked, knowing what was wrong. Hanna opened her eyes. "Can you walk?"

            "I think so." She replied, trying to stand up. Josh took one of her arms and put it around his shoulders. Telling her to lean her weight against him, they slowly made their way to the hospital. Hanna was put in the bed next to Rachel's, and Josh kept up a silent vigil all night until he fell asleep himself.

            The next morning, Josh woke up at ten, and looked around, first at Rachel. She looked the same as last night, no improvement so far. Then he looked over at Hanna, and was scared. She'd taken a turn for the worse during the night. An IV drip had been attached to her arm, and she looked paler than the last time he saw her, if that was at all possible. A few flecks of blood covered the sheets, and Josh was thinking where they'd come from, when a doctor came in. She was young, probably about 22 or 23, and came over to talk to Josh.

            "Max Steel?" She asked, uncertain.

            "Yeah, that's me," he replied, waiting for the doctor's reaction.

            "As you can see, Hanna Bendal has gotten worse, as has Ian Watson. We're trying to find a possible cure, but if we can't..."

            "Don't worry, I know," Josh replied, looking down at Hanna. He then noticed a second IV drip, but this one was taking liquid away. It had been attached just under her ribcage, and Josh wondered what it was for. A fit of coughs came over Hanna, and the doctor looked her way, then walked out. _There's nothing they can do for her, not until they find a cure, anyway. Blood sprayed from her mouth, and some more liquid collected in the second IV drip. At the sound, Rachel's eyes flickered, then opened._

            "Josh?" Rachel said weakly. He turned round to face her.

            "I'm here, baby. Don't worry, it'll be over soon. Don't worry." He said, stroking her face.

            "How is she?" Rachel asked, indicating Hanna. "Any better?" Obviously, she'd woken up in the night, and one of the doctors or nurses had told her. Josh hesitated before answering.

            "Not too good. She's become even worse. The doctor reckons that, without a cure, she might not last mush longer." He looked down at her, and knew what she was thinking. "It's not your fault. Ian's seriously ill as well, so it can't be anything you've done. You should really get some rest." Josh finished, and walked out. He had to contact Smith, to let him know what had happened. The last time he'd contacted Smith was just before the mission. Rachel twisted and turned, but couldn't sleep. Somehow, she held herself responsible for Hanna's illness. Rachel got up, and sat beside Hanna's bed, watching.

            "She's _sixteen," Rachel shouted. "Sixteen! This shouldn't be happening to her. She should be out, enjoying herself, not stuck here, suffering from an almost incurable illness." She started crying. "It's my fault. I gave them the idea of developing this disease, but I didn't intend it to be this...this..._lethal_." She got back into bed, and finally fell asleep. Her dreams were shattered images of Psycho, Hanna, the lab, testing, Josh, the vial..._

            Hanna seemed better the next morning, when Josh checked in on them both. The second IV tube had gone, and she was no longer coughing up any more blood, although she was still feverish. Rachel was also better, staying awake longer, and was starting to walk around. As soon as she could, she discharged herself, and tried to help Hanna, but she wasn't sure how. It seemed that the doctor was right: all they could do was wait, and hope. Josh and Rachel took turns in watching over both Ian and Hanna, looking for some kind of improvement.

            After three days, Hanna was well enough to be discharged, and everyone's focus was on Ian, who'd grown steadily worse, especially over the past couple of days.

            Hanna wasn't around often, still being at school, but somehow managed to balance school, work, missions _and seeing how Ian was. After a week, Ian was not getting worse or better which, apparently, was a good thing. Everything the scientists at UKI tried, had failed. Well, they tried __almost everything._

            "This is just getting ridiculous! I've got a huge test in the morning on History of Medicine, and you pulled me in here?! You'd better have a good reason!" Hanna, as she was pushed towards the wards by Rachel.

            "It was either this, or a mission. You decide." Rachel said firmly. Hanna glared, but walked in. "Remind you of anyone?" She asked Josh, with a smile, and they both left. Hanna walked around to where Ian was, sat down and pulled a book from her bag.

            "You are going to get me in serious trouble on of these days. With the holo-field generator down, I can't afford to go on missions." She told Ian, although he couldn't hear her. Flipping the book open, she started to read, but couldn't. The text started to swirl together, making it impossible to see anything. _I must be more tired than I thought, Hanna thought, closing her eyes, then opening them again. _Concentrate,___ or you'll never pass! she ordered herself, but all she could make out of the text were two words: serum therapy. _That's what people used to use before inoculations were found. They'd find someone who'd had the same disease, recovered, then would take some of the antibodies...._ her head jerked up._

            "That's it!" Hanna yelled, so loudly she thought everyone would have heard her. She looked at the time, and sighed. Half-nine. No one would be in until the next day, and it might be too late then. She'd overheard two of the doctors talking: apparently, if someone had the virus for more than a week, they would never recover. Tomorrow, Ian would have been ill for eight days. Hanna found an unused syringe, took the lid off, and pushed the needle into her arm. Drawing off a small amount of blood, she looked at it, considering. _Good thing both our blood groups are the same,_ she thought, _or I would've been up all night. Using one of the microscopes in the near-by lab, she destroyed all the antibodies, except the ones needed. Without thinking, she turned back to the hospital, injected the blood into Ian's arm, and left._

            Berto had been watching all of this, and noticed something unusual, something he'd only seen once before, in Josh's blood. He walked down to the hospital, took the syringe, and inspected it. What he saw made his pulse race. _How?_ He thought. _How could she survive?_ Promising himself he'd work it out in more detail in the morning, he went to bed.

            Both Josh and Hanna were seriously pissed off the next morning: Josh because he thought he'd been waken up at the middle of the night (at seven), and Hanna because she _still hadn't revised for her exam, and was planning to do a cram session in the morning._

            "I didn't think that this could wait…" Berto started.

            "If it's about Ian, I think it could!" Josh snapped. He still wasn't completely awake yet. Berto frowned. 

            "It's not about Ian, it's about something else. I'll show you." He led them to his console, and brought up an image of Josh's blood. Amongst the red and white blood cells, platelets and others, there were a few glimpses of metal: max probes. "Now look at this," Berto said, bringing up a very similar image, and putting them side by side. "This one is an image of Hanna's blood. Since she had max probes in her system, I ran a DNA check, and this came up." Closing the images, Berto pulled up two sequences of numbers. Josh didn't have a clue what it meant, but Hanna did. Josh looked at Berto questioningly, while Hanna looked at him in disbelief.

            "What does that mean?"

            "It means she's your sister, Josh."


	5. Questions

            Disclaimers: Any of the characters you recognize from Max Steel, are copyrighted by whoever made them, possibly Foundation Imaging, 20th Century Fox, and whoever else it might be. All other characters are copyright their own creators/authors. (Mainly me!)

            A/N: This story takes place after the third series. If you don't know what happened, buy the tapes and WATCH THEM! Call yourself a Max Steel fan?! (This only applies to people in America and the UK and ROI) Plus, don't criticize me for the team name, I picked it at random. Also, this has links to a spy-type book I'm writing. * indicated italics. The only reason Josh is still 19 is that they never said how long each season took, so I'm assuming that it's May, almost a year after Josh became Max.

Chapter 5

            "You're kidding. My sister? Jim never stopped mourning for Molly, she can't be." Josh considered. "Molly died when I was two. Hanna's three years younger than me."

            "Two and a half years." Hanna muttered quietly.

            "What?" Josh asked, spinning around to look at her. She was leaning against the console, looking pale again.

            "Molly died when you were two and a half years old. I'd only been born a few days before. When you two got back to the hotel, we all left for Del Oro. When Jim died, Jeff followed his instructions: you were adopted by Jeff, and I was adopted by a British family. He didn't want you to know what N-Tek really did but, for some reason, he wanted me to remember, or at least know. I knew I was adopted when I was about ten."

            "How?"

            "They told me. They'd been given instructions to tell me when I was ten. Over the past few years, I've learnt all about N-Tek, and even UKI two years ago. Both my parents worked for UKI, so I knew a lot about terrorists and agencies. Really it was all a matter of time before I became an agent as well. About a year and a half ago, I was brought in, unofficially, to be trained." Hanna raised her arm to stop Berto interrupting. "They only noticed my abilities as an agent a few months ago, and I officially became an agent of not only UKI, but WI as well." She looked down at her watch. It was half-eight. "What day is it?" She asked, panicked.

            "Tuesday." Berto replied.

            "Shit! My I.T teacher's going to have a fit!" She ran out of the door in a flash, and disappeared from view.

            "So, what else were you going to say?" Josh asked.

            "What I don't understand is how she's managed to stay alive for so long. There's no record of a Transphasic Regenerator at UKI, and she's had no access to one at all during her life." Before Josh could comment on this, he looked down at his bio-link. His power reserves were about half-full, and slowly rising. _Strange, he thought. __I haven't had a recharge since I arrive here, and that was almost two weeks ago. Considering how much an EMP blast can destroy my energy reserves… Josh had a brainwave._

            "You haven't found a regenerator separately because it's integrated within the building!"

            "What?!"

            "Somehow, they knew Hanna has probes integrated within her system, and decided to create their own Transphasic Regenerator. It had to work on the same principals as ours, or both of you'd be in trouble. They have to have some way of sending energy to her all over the world…"

            "What about…" Berto shook his head before Josh could finish.

            "She never spends enough time in WI bases to get a charge-up that way. It has to be something similar to a satellite link-up." Josh shrugged. He'd let Berto sort this out: he was good at it. Ian and Scott were both at school, Kat was shopping, and Rachel had gone home for some R&R. Since he didn't know where she lived, he just went out to have a look around, reminding himself that he had to get to Hanna's school in time. He still had more questions that needed answering.

            Arriving at her school, he found her very quickly, outside the entrance with Denise. She'd taken her phone out, and listened. 

Turning to Denise, she said, "Do you want a lift? I've got to tell you about something important." She turned round, and Josh ducked, hoping that he hadn't been seen. She turned back, and ignored it. _This doesn't make sense. She heard something, and didn't even bother looking._ After someone looking like Denise, who Josh assumed was her sister, walked out, they turned, and walked up the road.

"Wait a sec," she said, turning round on her heels, and walking the other way. Josh'd been found. "Stalking me now? I'm not _that_ defenceless." She turned to Denise and her sister. "Denise, Josie, why don't you two look for the car." Turning back to him, she growled, "I was coming back to UKI tonight. Whatever questions you have could've waited." She walked up to meet her friends.

"What was t_hat all about? Why was your cousin here?" Denise asked. Hanna shrugged._

"Don't know, don't care." She replied, as they got into the car. Her mum, Louise, looked at her, wondering if she was certain about this.

"You do know what'll happen if you tell them, don't you?" Louise asked.

"Yes. The same thing that happened to me." She turned around to face the back of the car. "Well, you see, I'm part of this organisation called UKI, and…" Denise and Josie were told everything on the way back. "But you have to make sure you tell no one about this. _No one_ at all. And there is something else, as well."

"What?" Josie asked. To her, the prospect of looking at UKI was fascinating to her.

"You'll see, sometime." When they got home, Josh was waiting for them. Louise took one look at him, and knew instantly what had happened. Hanna went into the living room and selected a music channel, trying to avoid the obvious question that was going to come. It worked, for about three seconds.

"How did you manage to get max probes in your system?" Josh asked, annoyed. Hanna sighed.

"I don't know. I've had them ever since I can remember, but they only started giving me nano-tek powers when I was about 12, strength, speed, the whole lot. I can change into a different person, like you, but I was _so_ scared when it happened, I didn't know what to do. It happened when I was 10. I tried to ignore it, but everyone at school started calling me a freak, and started bullying me. I couldn't use my powers against them, so I tried to ignore it." She smiled. "At least I know why I managed to punch a 15 year old guy in the face when I was 12. I hit him so hard he was unconscious for two days! After that, I was told everything about my powers, and all about Transphasic energy. Ever since I'd had the probes in my system, there had always been a regenerator at UKI. They set up a satellite link, allowing me to be recharged anywhere in the world. It's been linked up to you as well."

After Josh reached his quarters at UKI, he thought about what Hanna had said. It made sense, most of it, except for one thing:_ why_ had she been given the probes? Was it an accident, like it was with me, or was it done on purpose? She would have been too young to know what was happening, so she couldn't be asked about whether she wanted it or not. He walked over to a table and opened a drawer. Since N-Tek knew they might be over here a while, they'd sent most of their belongings to the base. Josh hesitated, and pulled out a picture he'd been given when he was five. It was a picture of him and his father, Jim McGrath. He ran his finger over the side, where he could see the suggestion of another hand. Someone had cut this photo up before he was given it, and never understood why. Until now. _Maybe, he thought, _maybe Hanna has the other part. _He tried not to laugh._

"Oh, sure. Like they would have _ever_ given it to her in the first place. I'd be surprised if she even recognized it at all." He put the photo back, and tried to forget it by training. The training room was practically empty, with only a few rookies being taught the basics of fighting. Not feeling up to talking to anybody, Josh exited, and went to look for Rachel. After wandering around all the floors, he finally asked where she was.

"It's her day off, and it's against our policy to give out any addresses to anyone." Was the reply he got. "You'll be able to find her tomorrow." With that he was pushed out of her office door.

"Well, that told you. You should've checked with me, I could've told you she'd taken the day off." Josh turned round to see Hanna standing there.

"What? How?" Hanna sighed and shook her head.

            "There _are _other ways to get to UKI, other than just by road or air. You just need to know them." She turned to leave, but Josh called out.

"Wait! I need to ask you something!" Hanna rolled her eyes, and turned.

"What? I've told you all I know about my past. What else do you _have_ to know now?"

"This might sound stupid, but have you got a photo of you and Molly?" He asked hopefully. Hanna looked at him, confused.

"A photo? No, the only ones I've got are me with my adopted family. Why?"

"No reason," he lied. _It was stupid of me to hope, Josh thought, as Hanna disappeared out of sight. _I guess I've been watching too many of those types of movies.__


	6. MIA

            Disclaimers: Any of the characters you recognize from Max Steel, are copyrighted by whoever made them, possibly Foundation Imaging, 20th Century Fox, and whoever else it might be. All other characters are copyright their own creators/authors. (Mainly me!)

            A/N: This story takes place after the third series. If you don't know what happened, buy the tapes and WATCH THEM! Call yourself a Max Steel fan?! (This only applies to people in America and the UK and ROI). If you don't, I'll be happy to e-mail you and tell you what happens (sorry, Miss Piggy). Plus, don't criticize me for the team name, I picked it at random. Also, this has links to a spy-type book I'm writing. * indicated italics.

            The poem is part of a song by S Club 7, called 'Dangerous'. I was listening to it, and I realized it fitted in well with the mood. 

Chapter 6:

~Two weeks later~

            _This is just getting stupid, Josh thought, tapping his fingers on the table, a half-empty glass of beer in front of him. _We've been here for a month and, apart from that first battle, nothing has happened._ That was partly true: nothing had happened to him, just to everyone else. Kat and Berto had gone back to N-Tek last week, as the spy part of it had been re-opened. Josh had spent the last two weeks trying to get anymore information about their parents from Hanna, but after receiving a sprained wrist for his troubles, he'd given up. He looked up as the door opened, then looked back down at the table again. He was waiting for Rachel to arrive. He'd heard from some people at UKI a few days ago that she often came here, but after nearly an hour of waiting, he gave up. Paying what he owed, he left, and went to Rachel's house. After much pestering of Hanna, he'd managed to get her address (that was where he got his sprained wrist from). He knew something was wrong as soon as her saw the front of the house. Her car wasn't there. She hardly ever used it, preferring to use some of the small planes UKI owned._

            "Hanna, are you there?" Josh yelled over his bio-link. It'd been adapted so he could communicate with any other UKI agent if necessary. He heard her muttering something similar to "piss off, I'm trying to sleep", then a light being switched on.

            "Hey, do you even _sleep_?! It's nearly midnight!"

            "Just giving you payback." Josh replied, referring to his arm.

            "That was a week ago, and I know you. What's happened?"

            "It's Rachel. I haven't seen her for days. I was just wondering…"

           "She's fine," Hanna interrupted, a bit too suddenly. "She was called off on a mission a couple of days ago, with GerI. There's nothing to worry about." Josh wasn't convinced, but knew better than to carry on.

            "See you soon, then?"

            "Yeah. Bye." Hanna said, and then shut off her link. _One of these days, she thought, _I'm gonna remember to turn my link off before I get interrupted._ She got up, changed, and limped to the bathroom. She'd been on that mission to Germany, and it wasn't pretty. The mission seemed simple enough: just stop a new terrorist organisation from developing. It should have been simple enough, except they seemed to know what they would do even before they did it. _

Four of them had gone at first; Hanna, Ian, Scott and Rachel, but as the mission time lengthened, more agents were called up to help. Three of those agents were now in the ICU in UKI, two, including Scott, were slowly recovering, Ian had gotten away almost scratch-free, and Hanna managed to end up with a broken arm, a broken ankle, and millions of cuts and bruises, but nothing that needed hospital care after they were treated. Most of the bruises had disappeared but a few remained, leaving ugly purple marks. All of the scratches, except the one running from the corner of her left eye all the way down to the bottom of her face, and one on her back, had healed up. Her left arm was still broken, but her ankle was being repaired quickly, and she could stand on it now. Looking in the mirror, she traced the scratch on her face with her right hand. _That'll leave a scar, she thought. According to the doctor, she'd been lucky. A few millimetres to the right, and she would have lost her eye. As it was, the scratch had pulled the corner of her eye down. _

She took off her jeans and t-shirt, leaving herself in her underwear, and looked at herself. There was another scratch running parallel to her spine, all the way down her back, along with three bruises that refused to disappear. She put her clothes back on, and called for a UKI plane. She wasn't going to get any more sleep, not now. During the journey to the base, she kept on thinking about the last member of the group, Rachel. No one had seen her on the mission apart from Hanna, Ian and Scott, and even that was right at the beginning. Her profile had been updated on the WI board. Next to where it said 'location', she was listed as MIA: Missing In Action.

            Whoever had captured her had to be extremely good. On all of the satellite scans, not one had picked up anything unusual, anywhere. There was nothing on her comm., and her tracking beacon could not be found. Arriving at UKI, she took her usual place in front of the monitors, searching for the millionth time for anything unusual at all. Every agency in the world had been contacted, and were put on alert. After almost two hours of continuous scanning, she heard the familiar sound of metal-on-floor, and a single, scuffing, footstep. She didn't even bother turning round.

            "Hey, Scott. How're you feeling?" She asked, as he sat down in the chair next to her. He'd ended up with a broken leg and, since he didn't have any kind of super-healing power, he'd be out of action for around two months. She looked around, and saw that almost everyone had gone.

            "I'm fine, but I should be asking you that question." He replied, touching her left cheek. She pushed his hand away, and stared at him.

            "I don't _need people acting like I'm made out of crystal, I can take care of myself." She yelled, and stood up._

_I hardly even know you_

_But you rush my heart in such a beautiful way_

            She started to walk away, but Scott grabbed her arm (not easy to do when you're on crutches, believe me). She turned round, and looked at him.

_Every little thing you say_

_Every little move you make_

            "Look, I'm going to deal with this, and if I need help, I'll say. Don't try to be my knight in shining armour. I'll be fine." She yanked her arm out of his grip, and he let her go. For about two seconds.

_I gotta watch myself or I'll do something I'll regret_

            "Hanna," he said, blocking her way. She looked down at the floor. She didn't want him to see her crying. "Going after Rachel and getting yourself killed won't solve anything." She looked up, and he saw how red her eyes were.

            "Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to look for her without back-up? There's a group of agents in Germany, all ready to help me and any other agents who want to come along."

            "Are you sure that's going to be enough? They knew what we were going to do, and were always one step ahead of us." Scott looked worried, and not just because of Rachel being injured, or worse. Hanna smiled.

            "Don't worry. I'm thinking that they only know what UKI is going to do, and haven't managed to hack into GerI's frequency. I'm afraid you, or anyone, won't be able to contact me until I get back." Since he was a head taller than her, she stood on her toes, and kissed him. "Don't worry, I'll be fine." And with that, she left. 

            Getting on the plane, Hanna closed all communications, except the link between her and GerI. Each intelligence agency had their own coding and frequency for comm., and it would be almost impossible to listen in to every transmission between an agency and its agents. Coming in for a landing in a small field, the comm. Button on the plane started flashing. Checking it was from GerI, she replied.

            "Agent  Bendal here." She said, triangulating on the position of the sender, two miles away.

            "We've located a building which looks like it may have been modified very recently, five miles WNW of your current position, and a disused mine, three miles east."

            "Roger that." Hanna replied, and closed the link. The mine would be a better bet, being far away from people, and easier to disguise. Hanna set of east, leaving the plane, and telling some agents to meet her there. Reaching her destination, it looked like Hanna had been wrong about Rachel's location. The opening to the mine had been nailed shut so long ago that some of the wooden beams had started to rot away, and there were huge spider webs across the holes. Hanna stood up, and walked across to the entrance. Pulling some of the beams off, she took out a pocket detector, and activated it. Nothing happened for about half a minute, then a slow, steady beeping filled the tunnel. Backing out of the tunnel, she yelled to the other agents to bring in Storm, and for some of them to follow her. Using the detector, and going where the signal seemed to be stronger, they made their way further and further into the tunnels. They used hand signals between them; making as little noise as possible to make sure no one heard them.

            After ten minutes of wandering around, following the signal, they found Rachel. Hanna's hand flew to her mouth, and her heart stopped beating for a second. Rachel was dead.


	7. I love you

            Disclaimers: Any of the characters you recognize from Max Steel, are copyrighted by whoever made them, possibly Foundation Imaging, 20th Century Fox, and whoever else it might be. All other characters are copyright their own creators/authors. (Mainly me!)

            A/N: This story takes place after the third series. If you don't know what happened, buy the tapes and WATCH THEM! Call yourself a Max Steel fan?! (This only applies to people in America and the UK and ROI). If you don't, I'll be happy to e-mail you and tell you what happens. Plus, don't criticize me for the team name, I picked it at random. Also, this has links to a spy-type book I'm writing. 

Chapter 7:

            Hanna couldn't move. She couldn't even turn her head away, to avoid seeing her that way. Fortunately, one of the other agents had more sense. She walked over to Rachel, and felt for a pulse in her neck. After a moment she found one: weak and fast, but it was there. She turned round to look at Hanna.

            "She's alive, but barely." The news shook Hanna out of her stupor. Immediately she took action. 

"You two, get Rachel out of here and up to GerI's base now!" They left. "The rest of you, spread out and be on guard. We don't know who we're up against."

            Deeper into the mines, the person watching this laughed. "Does she really think that'll work? If she's trying to be another Rachel, she'll end up just like her: dead." Seeing something he recognized, he zoomed in closer to Hanna.

            "That little bitch! I thought she was gone for good." He turned his chair around. "I thought you'd dealt with her?!" He asked the person in the shadows. The shadow-person stayed silent. "Never mind. She'll be gone before the day's out." He looked at the shadow-person closer. "Since you failed to kill her last time, make sure you finisher her off now. She won't put up much of a fight seeing as how she got injured the last time she was here."

            Hanna was pacing up and down a short way along one of the tunnels. Waiting was _not her thing. She preferred action. Considering the state she was in, it might be better for nothing to happen. _Too late to wish for that,_ she thought, hearing an explosion. Tracing the sound, Hanna did something she never thought she'd do again: she changed into Amber. That was the name she'd given herself, shortly after she'd realized her power at turning into a different person. All of her injuries disappeared, and she ran into the fight. Two of the GerI agents were already fighting, and loosing __very quickly._

           "Hey, Smiley, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Hanna/Amber called out, and Psycho turned around, dropping one of the agents from his claw. Hanna knew how deadly that claw could be if she got within its range, and did her best to avoid it, as they started circling each other.

Back at UKI

            Scott was watching all of this on the monitor, standing behind Berto. For some reason, he'd decided to come back a few days before. Hanna obviously hadn't realized that she was being watched, and Scott knew. Psycho extended his laser gun from his claw, and Berto was about to yell something to Hanna, when Scott stopped him.

            "If you say or do anything, when she doesn't realize we can see what she's doing, you'll break her concentration, and that'll be far worse." Scott looked back up at the monitor, and waited. Hanna had avoided most of the shots, and Psycho had moved in for a close-range battle. Scott gave out silent instructions to her, even though he knew she couldn't hear him. He glanced over at the data read-outs, and then looked at them properly. No way was that possible. Then Scott did something he would regret. He grabbed one of the communicators, and yelled into it.

            "Hanna, get out of N-Tek mode! You're using up too much T-juice!"

Germany

            She couldn't hear all that he'd said, but caught the jist of it, and paused to consider it. Unfortunately, that gave Psycho the chance he was looking for. Swinging his claw around, he knocked the button which shut down Amber mode, then a second later the claw hit her arm. Hanna screamed in pain, and fell to the ground. Sensing Hanna was unable to defend herself, he launched numerous blows and created gashes to her face, stomach, and even her arm once or twice. Psycho stopped for a minute, savouring the victory. Hanna was on her hands and knees in the dirt, her head facing downwards, gasping for breath. A huge gash on her stomach was dripping blood, and a small puddle had already formed. The cut on her face had been re-opened, and blood was slowly trickling down her face. Looking up, she saw what death looked like, and blacked out.

UKI

            Scott didn't even see the battle; he was too busy getting one of the planes to work, hoping he'd get there soon enough to save her. Berto's voice came over the link.

            "Scott, there's no point. She's gone. I'm getting no readings at all. Not even a heartbeat." Scott slid down the side of the plane he'd been trying to fix, accidentally hitting his broken leg, and sat on the ground.

            "No," he whispered to himself. "No! There has to be something we can do!" He yelled, hitting the plane hard. The pain didn't even register in his mind. _I had to try and play the hero, didn't I? Scott told himself. _Now I know why people say never to mix relationships with work: it always ends in a disaster. Especially in this line of work._ Forcing himself, he walked back to the console room, and looked at the readouts._

            "She's on Storm." Berto told him. "But they think it's too late…" Scott was staring at the monitors, almost as if he could think Hanna back to life. Suddenly, almost too quiet to hear, a faint 'blip' was heard. Berto turned round instantly, and brought up the monitor on the main screen instantly. It took a few seconds to register in Scott's head what it meant. His eyelids flickered, then he realized.

            "She's alive," he said, barely more than a whisper, a small smile appearing, then disappearing again almost instantly.

            "They're both being brought back here," Berto told him. _Both of them? Scott mouthed, then remembered Rachel._

            "I'm going to call Josh, tell him what's happened."

            "He already knows, or at least he will in the morning." Scott looked down at his watch. Half-four in the morning. Berto smiled. "I don't think he'd appreciate being woken up at this time in the morning, even if it _is good news." After Hanna and Rachel had been brought into the hospital at UKI, Scott didn't move from Hanna's side for most of the morning. Rachel appeared to be fine, and would be discharged once she woke up. It was a different matter for Hanna, though. She was in the ICU, and had about a 30% chance of surviving, even with the max probes._

~one week later~

            Hanna still hadn't woken up, and it looked like she had even less of a chance of surviving. Josh and Rachel often came to visit, but Scott was hardly anywhere except her side all the time. Everyone knew he blamed himself for the incident, even if he'd been told a million times that it would've happened anyway. One morning, when he came in, no one was there looking at the readings on the monitors surrounding Hanna. Scott's heart started racing. That meant two things; she was getting better, or she had no chance of survival. He burst in through the doors, and looked at the time. He immediately started to calm down. It was half-ten. The nurses had been in an hour before. He bent down to look at the board they'd left there. He scanned it, then put it back. No improvement since yesterday, but there had been a steady improvement over the past three days before then, which was a good sign. Scott sat down on the chair next to her bed, and held her hand.

            "Hanna, I'm so sorry this happened. It was my entire fault. If I hadn't distracted you, you wouldn't have got attacked by Psycho so badly." This was the first time he'd said anything to her, mainly because all the other times, he'd been too upset. The door opened, and Josh and Rachel walked in. Rachel was still weak, and Josh was holding her up.

            "How is she?" Josh asked, indicating Hanna. Scott let go of her hand, and stood up. At full height, he was slightly taller than Josh.

            "There's been no improvement since yesterday evening." Scott replied, practically quoting what had been written on the board. Josh nodded, and they both left, leaving Scott alone, once more.

            "It doesn't look good, does it?" Rachel asked. Josh shook his head.

            "I've been talking to the doctor. If Hanna doesn't wake up within the next 48 hours, she won't wake up at all." Josh drove back to Rachel's apartment, and they both went in. Rachel sat down on the couch, and Josh found two duvets, one for them both. He sat down, and handed Rachel one. She pulled it over herself and, once Josh had done the same, she curled up next to him. He put his arm around her, and they both fell asleep.

~two days later~

            "How is she?" Scott asked, as soon as he walked into the ward. The doctor led him into a separate room.

            "I'll tell you the truth: if she doesn't wake up today, then she never will. She's shown rapid improvement though, so it looks like she may still have a chance." Looking over at her, Scott muttered a silent prayer. Scott wasn't religious, but believed that someone could still save her. The doctor left, and Scott took up his usual position at Hanna's side.

            "C'mon, Hanna, wake up. I know you've heard what the doctor's been saying, that this is your last chance." Scott looked up. Most of the monitors had been taken down, leaving only an IV drip. Either way, she wasn't going to be here for much longer. "I don't want you to die. I don't care if, no when, you wake up that you don't speak to me for a month, as long as I know that you're OK." Tears started to appear in his eyes, and he looked at Hanna. "I love you, Hanna. I don't want you to leave. Not now, not yet." He had squeezed her hand gently when he said this. It barely registered in his mind when Hanna squeezed his hand in return. "Hanna?" Scott looked up. Hanna's eyes flickered, then opened.

            "I love you, too." She replied.


End file.
